LACEY, Wash. – An early goal for the Falcons proved to be the difference maker in a tightly contested match, with Seattle Pacific edging out the Saints 1-0 inside the Saints' Soccer Complex.
 
A goal in the 13th minute by Titus Grant was all the Falcons (5-5-0, 2-2-0) needed, despite the Saints (3-7-0, 1-3-0), playing a man down for the final 10 minutes, and applying constant offensive pressure. The Saints had opportunities to tie the match, recording 14 shots, seven of which landed on goal.
 
Only the third shot of the match, was the highlight shot, as the Saints' goalkeeper, Griffin Small, misplayed a ball and allowed Grant to slip past and score on the open net. The Saints responded by taking six shots over the course of eight minutes; however, two were saved and one was blocked, while five missed the goal.
 
In the second half, the Falcons continued to just control the match and carry the 1-0 lead. Saint Martin's best opportunity to equalize the match came in the 63rd minute, when Jason Fairhurst nearly beat the keeper and had most of the net open for a goal. Unfortunately, Seattle Pacific managed to step in front of the shot last second and make the save. The pressure continued from SMU, despite losing Oscar Aguilar in the 79th minute to a red card. Brandon Madsen managed a shot on goal in the 83rd minute; however, the Falcons held on for the 1-0 win.
 
"First and foremost, we really like the way the guys worked on our attack today," said head coach Rob Walker. "We felt we had to make some adjustments from Thursday and felt we found solutions to several issues that slowed our productivity. Unfortunately today, we did not contribute goals to our effort and that is disappointed based on how well we played through the thirds of the field from time-to-time. We also liked the way our core defenders took on some tough tasks today and overall were pretty positive. We also thought that our flank defending showed signs of improvement too. We are addressing the issues of how we challenge. The officials felt confident that the sending off ticks all the boxes, and we can't disagree. This is an area of the game that we will continue to work on and get right."
 
Small faced 14 shots on the day, and made five saves. Sebastian Navarro, Cayman John and Madsen each recorded three shots, while Stephen Todd Murray JR added two of his own. Fairhurst, Alexis Lopez and Aguilar each managed one shot.
 
The Saints travel to Concordia on Thursday for their lone match of the week next week. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. with live stats and video available on smusaints.com.